“Leadership was not my plan… I had never led people or developed talent. I didn’t really think that’s what I wanted to do, but when the opportunity presented itself, I just knew I had to take it.”
After completing Minerva’s Emerging Leaders program in 2025, alumni Jena Laybourn reconnected with us to share insights from her leadership journey!
Before joining the program, Jena worked for 15 years in the same department at Tru Cooperative Bank, which gave her the stability, work-life balance, and flexibility to focus on raising her family while collaborating and supporting roles in other departments.
However, three years ago Jena created and proposed a project to her leadership team that pushed her past her comfort zone and rekindled her enthusiasm for learning; prompting her to realize she wanted more. She had grown in confidence and familiarity with her current position, and was ready to take on new challenges and explore her potential.
“ I forgot how good it felt [to be challenged], because I had been on autopilot for so long. When the project ended, I knew I couldn’t go back to my previous role, but it was time for something new.”
So in 2024, she stepped into a supervisory position for the first time as a Retail Lending Administration Supervisor.
In transitioning to a leadership role, she found new hurdles to overcome, but also found fulfillment in navigating novel challenges. With a renewed desire for growth and development, Jena decided to take her leadership a step further through Minerva BC’s Emerging Leaders program.
“I had heard great things about the Minerva programs, and their values really resonated with me. I joined the Emerging Leaders program to keep building my leadership skills, connect with others, and gain a better understanding of how to lead with purpose, confidence, and connection.”
Moving into a new position, let alone a management role, can be a period marked by uncertainty and questions. But connection is critical in leadership, and Emerging Leaders empowered Jena to find community and solidarity with peers who held similar experiences – emphasizing the value of relational learning in leadership spaces. She took away her learnings to her organization and implemented a peer mentorship group within her leadership team.
“It’s helped us build stronger relationships, share ideas openly, and support each other through challenges. Most importantly, it’s reminded us that we’re not alone—and that leadership is stronger when it’s collaborative.”
Through group discussions, and self-reflective activities like the Clifton Strengths assessment, Emerging Leaders also helped Jena shift how she thought about her values so she could lead with authenticity.
She reframed her values as a guiding compass—a North Star to inform her everyday actions and shape her team’s culture. Reflecting on this impact, she shared:
“ELP helped me establish values I wanted to lead by and helped me to understand how important those values are. Going into the program, I didn’t anticipate how much it would shape that leadership foundation in which I could continue to build skills and coaching methods.”
Since completing the program, Jena has found herself approaching complex leadership challenges with newfound confidence. She has personally integrated a coaching mindset into her management style, shifting how she approaches developing her team. Jena introduced strengths and values exercises to foster deeper collaboration between her team members- setting a foundation that values and respects the importance of learning from one another’s unique journeys and lived experiences.
When asked about what advice she would give to a woman thinking of joining ELP, Jena spoke to the impact this program has had on her career:
“ Emerging Leaders is for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been with an organization for 20 years or you’re starting out somewhere new, the foundation that it builds is important to all ages and all experience levels.”
